MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday vetoed a plan to give residents more time to pay their rent in the wake of the 12-week federal immigration surge that left many people scrambling to pay their bills.

Also Wednesday the Minnesota Senate began debating $40 million in emergency rental assistance for people who were affected by the federal immigration operation. The money would be distributed by counties and tribal governments.

But that proposal would have trouble making it through the evenly divided Minnesota House, where Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, has said Republicans wouldn’t support it.

“When we have other things that are popping up, assistance due to people making choices to either not go to work or do other things — there is not an appetite in the House Republican caucus for that,” Demuth said.

Rental assistance is the approach Frey favors, and he proposed another $1 million in city-funded assistance on top of $1 million the city already allocated to Hennepin County for low-income people facing eviction.

But advocates for renters say pausing the eviction process is also needed, because even if the narrowly divided Legislature approves the $40 million aid package, it could take months to get money to people. Advocates have pushed for Gov. Tim Walz to use his emergency powers to declare a statewide eviction moratorium, although he’s shown little interest in doing so.

Both approaches reflect the dilemma policymakers face as they try to gauge how much damage was done during the immigration operation and whether a eviction crisis is building.

During the crackdown, many immigrants and people of color were detained, deported or driven underground out of fear they would be arrested if they left their homes, leaving families without breadwinners and people without paychecks for weeks. While many residents stepped up to help their neighbors with everything from buying groceries to paying rent, advocates say donations are drying up.

Minneapolis landlords must give 30 days’ notice before filing an eviction; the ordinance would have temporarily extended that to 60 days through the end of August. The St. Paul City Council is considering a similar extension.

Frey said the measure could make housing instability worse and undermine Minneapolis’ progress as a national leader on affordable housing. He has called eviction moratoriums and extensions “a blunt measure.”

“Keeping people in their homes is the goal — and that’s exactly why we’re putting real dollars on the table today,” Frey said in a news release. “Stopping evictions may sound good, but experience from COVID shows it’s not the answer: Rental assistance is.”

Thirteen nonprofit housing providers and housing assistance organizations came out against the Minneapolis eviction pause — including Aeon, Agate Housing and Services and Catholic Charities Twin Cities — saying the measure is well-intentioned but counterproductive.

They said the current 30-day notice, plus the time it takes to get a court date, often leads to residents being two to three months behind on rent by the time they get to housing court. Adding another month to the notice period would likely lead to people being even further behind, they said, leading to more evictions and losses for housing providers, who are already “significantly underfunded and precarious.“

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Multi Housing Association, which represents landlords, disputes that there is a crisis, saying its members report that rent collection has been stable despite the recent chaos. In the first three months of 2026, nearly 92% of rent payments have been on time for 46,510 units of subsidized housing, affordable housing and market-rate housing, they said. The sample included the metropolitan area, Rochester and St. Cloud.

Eviction filings were higher statewide in January than the previous three-year average, at nearly 2,300. That’s lower than January 2025, which was a record year, according to Eric Hauge, co-executive director of Home Line, which provides free legal assistance for renters. Home Line runs a legal hotline for renters and has seen record number of clients every month since the immigration crackdown began in December, with January bringing the highest call volume in its 34-year history.

“This is a direct result of the presence of ICE in the city, the metro and the state,” Hauge said during a recent news conference. “Many of our neighbors are traumatized, and they are seeking help anywhere they feel safe.”

Home Line had a 75% increase in clients needing financial assistance since Dec. 1 compared to same period a year earlier. The agency is fielding even more calls for help than after a state pandemic rental assistance program ended.

“Rent relief through mutual aid, government assistance and philanthropic efforts has been working, but more time is needed to prevent a flood of eviction filings,” he said.

A closely divided Minneapolis City Council voted 7-5 on March 5 to temporarily extend the timeline for evictions, giving renters more time to get money together. Unless council members change their stances, proponents of the eviction pause are unlikely to find nine votes to override Frey’s veto.

Council Member Jamison Whiting, who abstained from voting on the ordinance on March 5, proposed a compromise that would extend the timeline specifically for tenants who have experienced “direct financial impacts” due to Operation Metro Surge.

But Council Member Jason Chavez, who had two uncles deported during the surge, said that would amount to an “ICE hit list.”

Whiting said his proposal could be a starting point for a compromise.

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